India's only globally recognized tea and coffee show - www.worldteacoffeeexpo.com - was held at Mumbai from 20th - 22nd October 2016 and showcased innovative products, machineries, equipment, technologies, vending solutions etc from 67 companies to over 3400 decision makers visiting from countries like Russia, Singapore, Iran, USA, China, Sri Lanka, Nepal and UAE in addition to buyers from across India. Apart from India, companies from Italy, USA, China, UK, Saudi Arabia and Sri Lanka also participated as exhibitors.

The 2016 edition had Pavilions from Tea Board of India and Sri Lanka Tea Board and also had a 2-day high level conference discussing issues facing the sector and skill imparting workshops on last day. Visitors included senior level decision makers comprising of Retailers, Wholesalers, Distributors, hypermarkets/multi-product retail chains, Tea/Coffee Estate owners, potential franchisees, HoReCa sector professionals many of whom placed large orders with exhibitors.

"Further to positive reviews from Exhibitors and visitors alike, the 5 th Edition of the expo in 2017 is also planned to be held at Mumbai - the commercial capital of India and a centre which attracts serious buyers from all parts of the country and the globe," said Ms Priti Kapadia, Director, Sentinel Exhibitions Asia Pvt. Ltd, the organizers of this unique trade show.

World Tea & Coffee Expo fulfilled the need for an organized event for Tea & Coffee Companies to come together under one roof to showcase their products, network, share learning and experiences and find suitable solutions to the industry's problems. This niche trade fair was inaugurated by Her Excellency Ms Saroja Sirisena, Consul General of Sri Lanka in Mumbai who remarked that, " India and Sri Lanka can share their natural advantage to ensure leadership in global tea and coffee markets. Organized trade platforms like World Tea & Coffee Expo can go a long way in forging larger business partnerships."

Most of the exhibitors were upbeat about the expo and expressed satisfaction at having taken part. Mr Mansour Aldawood, Arab Dalla Trading Est., from Saudi Arabia said, "For unique & exclusive products like ours we could not have asked for a better platform than WTCE. We got statistics of customer needs and can implement a best-in-class demand planning strategy."

According to Mr. Grahame Hackney, Instantina Ltd. UK, "We have been participating since the last 2 editions displaying our unique coffee products and it can be said that there is no better expo that gives such focused & quality visitors. WTCE is heading in the right direction as far as Tea & Coffee industries are concerned."

In the words of Mr. Bhuman Dani, TGL Co., "For a start-up tea company like ours, WTCE turned out to be an excellent platform to launch our innovative products and in turn get national recognition among the stalwarts of the Indian Tea industry."

Echoing similar sentiments is Mr. Uday Udani, Pacific Plastics Industries P. L., who stated, "We never expected such tremendous footfalls & have generated a good number enquiries for our packaging machineries which we hope to convert into actual business."

Anil Chandhok, Chenab Impex P Ltd, expressed, "We had a good experience in the Exhibition and displayed imported Teas. We had many visitors from different buyer sectors, which we would not have met otherwise."

Mr. Piyush Monga, Synergy, Infrastructure Solution P Ltd., said, "WTCE is a perfect place for our all our products, we not only got good branding but also a lot of genuine business visitors who were interested in our Tea & Coffee premixes."

Ms. Rekha Agarwal, Sira Impex P Ltd. said, "For our slimming tea - which we had also exhibited in the 2015 edition - we can say that the 2016 expo has matured in terms of size, exhibitors and visitors." Mr. Rajesh Surana, Tetrahedron Beverages P Ltd. commented, "We have been a part of WTCE for 3 Editions and we can give our verdict that this has been one of the best in terms of visitor quality, publicity & branding."

Sanjay Gupta, Budwhite Teas P Ltd. remarked, "Being a 3 rd time exhibitor, WTCE this year has surpassed all our expectations in terms of visitors & leads generated. The quality of the visitors this year was business oriented."

From Mr. Aditya Agarwal, Lajwab Tulsi Tea, "It was a right decision to exhibit for the first times at WTCE & we are sure with such great management & perfection, this show is bound to grow larger year after year."

The organizers are planning to make the 5th Edition of WTCE in 2017 much larger in terms of content and size and are likely to announce the dates very soon.